Stevethefolkie

heh ... looks like there were some pretty serious machines out there (I belive I spotted at least one Lotus and one Porsche in the crowd) - your Subie was doing a great job keeping them in check!

You win - plugging in the fuel pump relay really helps ....... - she's all back together now - good heat - just in time for summer !

(*&^$$^&*@~!!~~~*(^$(@! subaru - at least the @55hole who designed the dash assembly ... anyhow .... removed dash .... disconnected thousands of wiring harness connectors .... removed old heater core ... installed new heater core (funny - the actual heater core exchange took about 3 minutes once you dug DOWN to it) - installed everything - hooked all the crap back up and no start - she cranks - all the accessories work - the only thing I'm lacking is the engine running. Going to try to figure out if it's a fuel or spark issue tomorrow - kinda beat from the days festivities .... Any / all ideas appreciated Steve

if you're not going to replace the battery at least pop the caps and make sure there's water in it before you try to charge it -

to be realistic about it, the cost of litigation would be far more than the average value of a vehicle "killed" by a Fram filter (unless you could get enough participants to form a class and have an attorney take on Fram under a class-action). Life is an endless series of choices and compromise, would it be better to re-use a premium filter than slap on a Fram? You'll never know until you try. If the Fram fails, then you've got a problem, but the re-used premium filter could have clogged or failed as well - you just never know the outcome until after the fact. If you're going into Fram avoidance mode, best find out what other brands of filters they manufacture - I don't happen to know - but there's no sense in paying more $$ for filter A if it's made on the same assembly lines as filter F. Steve

Depends on where the gasket failed - it could also be something as simple as a carboned up valve - they get "stuck" so they're always partially open (gives you zero compression) - you should be able to yank the head w/o yanking the engine - I'd take a look at it before I swapped in the whole unit! Sometimes - if it's just carbon on a valve - you can get lucky and de-carbon the head by letting it idle and pulling some ATF through the intake using one of the vacuum hoses going to the intake manifold - you'll have to twiddle the throttle to keep it alive during this process - but I've personally seen it work before (on one of my cars) - you'll make an impressive cloud of smoke during this process so don't do it in a garage - you might try that before yanking a head .... Best of luck - Steve

I'd check with a known good battery or a jump first - just powering the 4ways and the jingle doesn't really mean squat as both of those are rather low amperage functions -

interesting observation, but your statistical population was probably a bit small to form any meaningful conclusions. It's quite likely that, due to market penetration, 4 out of 5 filters sold are Fram (or are made by Fram and marketed under another name) anthough that's just observational and I have no hard data to back up that figure. I've heard of Fram failures and tend to avoid them - I tend to run Bosch filters or NAPA premium ones (I started out in the Volkswagen and Saab worlds and a recent convert to Subaru) and have never lost an engine due to an oil filter failure. Then again, I change my oil and filter every 3000 miles on my vehicles and monitor their condition (yep, I take apart a filter every couple changes and look for metal bits or collapsed filter materials - I'm one of those "engineer" types). Much of this comes down to personal preference or prejudice - in the "classic" Saab 900 world I doubt that many would admit to running anything but Bougicord spark plug wires (the OEM supplier) - but I'll break the silence and admit to running Bosch and AC/Delco wires on a couple 900's with fine results. Engines fail for a variety of reasons, clearances in a factory engine can vary, which can lead to one going 300,000 miles and it's sister engine going 30,000 before a rod or main bearing letting go. Then toss into the mix the wide variety of service intervals imposed by "previous owners" - you know - those people to whom the Subaru was just an "old car" for a couple years who ran non-detergent motor oil and didn't change it very often, or who beat the hell out of their cars before selling them. If the filter is to blame it tends to be pretty obvious, on post-mortem you'll find a clogged or failed filter element, starved bearings (spun or galled) and a galled crank or rod journal or two - but without doing a thorough failure analysis for the most part people are taking an educated (or un-educated) guess at what caused the engines demise. So while I've read of Fram filter failures, I've never read of a court case against them for providing an inferior product that cause an expensive engine failure - which - if they were defective in great numbers - at least here in litigation happy America - I'd expect. A premium filter, on the other hand, is cheap insurance - if it makes you feel better to run one then it's worth the investment! I do have to admit that ANY filter is an improvement over the screens that Volkswagen used on their air-cooled engines, but even with those screens, the old 'dubs used to last a long time between rebuilds IF you kept the oil level up and changed it at a decent interval. Steve

yeah, sorry about that, I was talking to a friend about his Legacy while I was typing in the question - a Forest Gump moment (I'm prone to those)

1991 Loyale FWD slushbox sedan - purchased last fall for $300 bucks (144,000 miles) Fixed since purchase: five new, matching tires (including spare) front and rear struts left and right prop-shafts Brakes (all around) wheel cylinders (both sides, rear) windshied wipers all fluids (engine oil, trans oil, hydraulics) cap, rotor, plugs, wires fuel filter water pump timing belts Fixed after son went "off-roading" (avoided another errant vehicle): Replaced RF fender Replaced RF lights Replaced RF suspension New balljoints (both sides) New outter tie rod ends (both sides) exhaust system (from the heads back) RF hard brake line Currently needing attention: Blown out heater core (curently bypassed with some 5/8ID hose - brrrr!) No wheel covers Radio doesn't work (CD player does - need to replace antenna) RF Fender doesn't match rest of car Nifty dent on LF fender ball-peen hammer dents running down left side (apparently the previous owner had a way with making friends) various oil leaks (wish I'd replaced the cam seals ....) irritating trans oil leak (irritating because it drips on the exhaust system and stinks) Needs paint job (after I get the body work done) - That's about it ....

Curious - will an XT or Legacy heater core fit a 1991 Loyale? The one in my daughters car decided to let go last Thursday - currently the car is in "bypass no heat" mode which I'd like to resolve. I'm asking about the fit because I'm cheap - the dealer part is $248 - I can get a new aftermarket XT part for $104. As I'm going to be spending the better part of a day ripping the interior out of the car to replace the part, I don't want to discover that it doesn't fit - but hey - if I can ease the pain by $144 (that's a LOT of beer!) then I will! Cheers Steve

Thanks for the responses - looking at the manual there's no way I'd go for a used core - that'd be a foolish waste of time! Ok - so I'm looking at a rather long Saturday - hey - it's getting warmer out - I don't really need to do this until next Fall! Cheers Steve

Ok - question for ya - how much time should an experieced home mechanic set aside to replace the heater core in a 1991 Loyale? Thanks Steve

You can check the toe-in yourself - with the car sitting on a level, hard surface, wheels pointed straight ahead measure the distance between the inside edges of the RIMS (not the tires) 6" up from the ground at the front and the back - the difference is your toe. You can adjust the tie-rods to change the toe setting.

I can see the look on my wifes face after saying .... "honey - I'm flying to Montana to pick up a car" ... and pull into the driveway in Pennsylvania (a week or so later, somewhat the worse for wear) in that .....